Music to their ears

CHS music students participated in the 2018 IHSA State Solo and Ensemble Contest in Nashville, Illinois. Chester entered 97 events at the annual contest and earned 56 1st Place "Superior" ratings, 39 2nd Place "Excellent" ratings and two 3rd Place "Good" ratings. There were 60 individuals that competed from CHS in 44 instrumental solos and ensembles, 51 vocal solos and ensembles, and two piano solos. Chester currently leads the overall 2018 IHSA Music Sweepstakes Competition in Class C with 408 points.Jim Beers Photo

The Chester High School Brass Choir performed "Sourwood Mountain" March 3 at the 2018 IHSA State Solo and Ensemble Contest at Nashville. The 12-person ensemble earned a first place "Superior" rating for their performance.Submitted Photo

BY JIM BEERSContributing Writer

updated: 3/8/2018 9:02 AM

Students and faculty of Chester High School's Music Department were singing the praises of their work at the IHSA State Solo and Ensemble Contest in Nashville, Illinois his past weekend.

A total of 60 YellowJacket musicians competed in 97 different solo and ensemble performances, earning the school 56 Superior, 39 Excellent and 2 Good ratings overall.

In addition, Chester High School finished the competition on top of its class in the overall IHSA Music Sweepstakes standings as it readies for the next stage of competition in April.

"We had many students prepare and perform solos and ensembles at contest that had never been done before. This forced those students to do something that was, perhaps, way outside of their comfort zone," said Chester High School Music Director Steve Colonel.

Each soloist and ensemble performed a prepared song in front of a judge. Judges rate each performance on eight different categories including tone quality, intonation, rhythm, technique, interpretation/musicianship, diction-bowing-articulation, performance factors and the performance (from memory) of numerous scales.

Judges' ratings are calculated and points are assigned to the performance in the eight categories. A maximum of 40 points is possible for what is deemed a "perfect" performance.

Many of the students competed in more than one solo or ensemble to earn Chester's total of 97 performance ratings. Chester entered 44 instrumental performances, 51 vocal performances and two piano performances. Chester High School does not have an orchestra.

Chester entered a total of 11 instrumental ensembles. Of those, eight earned Division I "Superior" ratings and three earned Division II "Excellent" ratings.

Superior ratings included Montana Rose and Gwen Sterrett for their flute performance of "Menuett" (Haydn/Barge) Book 1; Destiny Williams and Jessica Handel for their flute duet of "Fugato (Stamitz) Book 1; Caitlin Elsea, Jacob Wingerter and Melody Colonel for their trio alto saxophone performance of "The Kings Pipes"; and Garrett Welker and Tyler Holm for their duet trombone performance of "Duett III (Dietter) Book 1.

There were three instrumental ensembles that earned Division II "Excellent" ratings. Abby Myers and Dayton James performed "Duett III" (Dietter) Book 1; Ariel Throop and Katie Shinabargar performed a saxophone duet titled, "Fugato" (Stamitz) Book 1; and Chloe Page-Keim and Zoe Carnahan also performed a saxophone duet "Fugato" (Stamitz) Book 1.

The Chester High School Music Department also entered 16 vocal ensembles into competition. Of those 16 ensembles 12 earned Division I "Superior" ratings while four earned Division II "Excellent" ratings.

There were also four "Excellent" ratings for vocal ensembles including, Jaci South and Garrett Welker, "All Night, All Day"; Kayla Simcock and Lance Bohnert, "All Night, All Day"; Melody Colonel and Jacob Wingerter, "Amazing Grace"; and Zach Zappa and Jacob Hoffman, "All Night, All Day".

Following the competition, Colonel Chester High School earned a total of 408 points at the contest. which put the school at the top of the Class C in the The IHSA Music Sweepstakes Competition, 85 points higher than the closest school in its division.

"We finished in first place in the vocal division with 204 points and in second place in the instrumental Division with another 204 points," Colonel said. "The only division in which we couldn't compete was the orchestra division because our school does not have an orchestra."

Chester High School will return to Nashville to finish the task of becoming the first entity at CHS to win a State Championship. In 2015-2016, Chester won the third place Award for Class C. Last year, CHS was edged out of the top three positions by just a few points, but the YellowJackets still finished in fourth place.

"At the beginning of the year we set four goals: 1. Finish in the top three for band at the solo and ensemble competition; 2. Become four-time State Champions for chorus at the solo and ensemble contest; 3. Earn Division I "Superior" ratings for all four of our performances at the Organizational Contest this spring; and 4. Win an overall State Championship in Class C IHSA Music Sweepstakes Competition," Colonel said. "This weekend we accomplished the first two of those goals. Now we have every intention of accomplishing the last two in April."